The holiday season is in full swing and we are in the thick of it. I'm sure you are knee deep yourself in Christmas cheer, and wrapping paper.
It's the most wonderful time of the year, but It can be a difficult time for Network Marketers who are seeing a lull in personal business volume.
Customers are passing on products and being more mindful with their spending, you have relaxed yourself because it's the busiest time of year, and as month end approaches you may have freaked out a little because you are not where you need to be with your monthly goals.
The struggle is as real as your Christmas tree, and don't think that you're the only one who has ever gone through this. So cozy on up, grab a cup of coffee and let's jam this out.
Alright, here we go!
If you've already leaned in with prospective customers in your funnel, nurtured your loyal customers and they've ran their orders, and you STILL feel as if you are falling short-- don't give up, and continue to lead with inspiration! This is not the time to exhaust and burn bridges with prospects because you are desperate to hit that goal.
Trust me, I know how it can feel to want to lean in harder on your circle, but always respect the space.
This is a great time of the year to really dig in and set a strong foundation for January to run hard when spending begins to pick back up, and they look to you for products, joining you in business, or a an authority in the online space.
These are my top five tips to make the most of this time to nurture, strategize, and end this year STRONG while enjoying your holiday season.
1. Reflect On Your Strategy
How is your daily task list working for you? How is your social media game? Find what is working really good for your business, make a note-- and keep doing that! If you're getting tons of interest through Instagram stories, keep showing up on there. If your customers love it when you text them monthly to check in to see if they need any product, keep at it. On the flip side, be honest with yourself, and if something isn't working really think about how to improve that part of your business strategy. Every aspect of your business strategy can ALWAYS be improved on. Start with what isn't working first, and then fine tune from there.
2. Embrace The Holiday Festivities And Share On Social Media
Everyone is busy running around and getting ready for the holidays, so when they log onto social media platforms they are more than likely looking for light hearted content. Keep sharing your products, but do so in a way that is not overwhelming to your audience! Share your family traditions, how you prepare for the holidays, and curate your business content around the season. This is NOT the time to drop off of social media, and start again next year. People still are looking to social for entertainment and to relax after that huge Christmas dinner. Keep showing up, and stay top of mind. You'll be happy you did in the new year!
* With that said though, set boundaries! If you need to log off to reconnect because your mental health needs it-- do it!
3. Use This Time To Build New Connections And Nurture Your Customers
If you feel like you have run out of leads, use this lull to create new relationships! Get social in your favorite Instagram hashtag or Facebook group. The time that was spent doing follow ups, and lean ins can be used to skyrocket your community. Build connections, send out samples, plant seeds and January may be your biggest month yet!
As you're building that beautiful community, don't forget your current customers. It is much easier to build a loyal customer following than it is to go out and find new ones. They have already trusted you, purchased product, and love it! Write little notes, give little gifts to your most loyal customers, and you can bet they will appreciate the kindness.
4. Nail Down Your Business Goals
Ask yourself where you want to be at in your business this time next year. Bahamas? Turks and Caicos? Just kidding...(kind of). But no, really ask yourself. Get detailed. Is it to build out your customer base or to grow a team? Start strategizing EXACTLY how you will plan to market, and take action into the new year. Don't be afraid to switch things up and rebrand if you need to, restructure how you run your Facebook group, or even pivot to a more aligned company if you are having trouble showing passion in your business.
5. Invest Into Personal Development
This time of year we are mixing and mingling with so many people, ask them what some of their favorite books for personal development are. Everyone is doing it these days ( amen! ) and it's an easy conversation if you were just introduced to someone new at your hubby's holiday party. I personally have loved: Get Over Your Damn Self, The Energy Bus, I Am That Girl, and The Big Life. Do you need a mentor? Work one on one with someone in your upline as a power partner, or invest in a business mentor.
6. Create Passive Income
You know what takes the edge off of month end, and elevates your entrepreneurial journey and growth? Diversifying your income stream with passive income. That question that you get constantly inside the DM's about how you get your kid to eat all those greens, how you created that email template, how you created all of your Canva graphics for your social media posts... create a resource that you can refer them to and you can get paid for your time, effort, and knowledge! I suggest a digital product such as an ebook, mini course, or templates. These you can create once, and then you simply just have to market. You'll want to avoid service based passive income if you are not ready to take valuable time away from building your network marketing business.
6. Clean out your Instagram!
Throughout the year Instagram has connected with you to so many wonderful people across Mother Earth, but it has also collected a lot of baggage. Let's unpack it. Go into your follower lists, and unfollow accounts that do not bring your joy, make you fall into the comparison trap, and remove any inactive, creepy, and/or bot accounts. This will increase your productivity when you log on to work your business, and increase your engagement rate.
7. Switch up your content and have some fun!
Use this time to experiment with your content. Your language, your messaging, the style of content you like to post. This is often overlooked and that post that FLOPPED that you thought was going to go viral-- well, you may have just needed to deliver it in a different way. Do not be afraid to try new things, and listen to your audience.
8. Poll your team/customer base and ask them where they need more support from you, their favorite products of the year, etc.
This is doing your market research so you KNOW where there may be weaknesses in your customer service, leadership ( ouch! this can sting a little bit, but it will help you grow!) and the content that you deliver in 2021. Remember, hindsight is 20/20.
9. Audit your sales funnel, and look for ways to improve your customer journey.
You hear your upline say it all the time, " fill that funnel!" but what does that really mean? No, it doesn't mean cold message and write their name down a list. Your sales funnel is how you attract and convert leads, and it all starts with the content that you put out into the internet.
Let's say that Instagram is the home of your sales funnel. You'll want check your insights to see which posts/type of content generated the most for you in 2020, and take note. Then ask yourself if your Instagram profile is optimized for conversion. This means, an optimized bio, strategic instagram highlights, and a call to action to your link where they can get even more information. This will make then hit that follow button.
Next, how does their journey go when they get to your link page? Is it unorganized? Does it lack free resources for them? Is it only asking them to hand you their wallet? You want to hold their hand to your products/offer so it's a no brainer when they get to the point of the sale. The same goes for your approach inside the DM's. Have you been asking open ended questions? Respecting the meaningful reaction they gave you? Or do you simply like their responses, and stop the conversation cold killing relationships?
From the content you put out, to the point of the sale-- their journey matters!
If you are ready to set up your authentic lead generation, and high converting sales funnel, this is something that we work on inside The Collective.
10. Refine or set up systems to help your team duplicate.
Be honest, how are your systems? While how your team delivers their personal branding messages in their content cannot be duplicated, the systems in how they learn, educate and nurture their leads to the sale can be. Your goal is to make this and seamless as possible, so start brainstorming ways to improve upon or set them up in place.
For example: A welcome and quick start guide or website page where all important start up resources are housed so they can easily reference when you may not be available, and they can easily share the link with their directs.
Have a happy holiday season, and know that I'm always rooting for you!
Not sure where to start?
What was the biggest tip that jumped out at you?
Start with that task first ;)
xoxo,
Lauren